Where To From Here?

Life has this habit of knocking us around when we least expect it and also when we least need it, with one of the few "silver linings" around such experiences being that we usually have to get back up and ask ourselves "where to from here?"

It forces us to reevaluate our priorities and to possibly even set new dreams and goals, all of which I have been productively doing of late. In amongst such reflecting I have also mused upon a myriad of goals and ideas, some of which may never happen and others which may require some more exploration before they could ever take off. In thinking about what I want for myself I've also thought a bit about what I want for other people, the answer to which can only be expressed simply within this simple and very hypothetical scenario.

If I were going to open an R.T.O I would open it for the troublemakers of life, for those who do nothing but cause disruption and angst. Why? Because if nothing else their reaction to life says that they're looking for something that is new, something that is different from that which they've experienced, and something that just grabs their imagination instantaneously. It strikes me that these adjectives should not only define what Education is all about, it also ought to be about enabling people with the greatest need the greatest opportunity to learn and move into a career.

It seems that the areas of policy that get in the way of such dreams for the direction and purpose of Education are: policies and stances upon the purpose of welfare and employment services, policy priorities associated with funding Education among a host of other important social services, as well as how to respond to some very challenging issues that present themselves today.  Yet despite all of the current moralizing associated with policy development as to what should and should not be prioritized, one reality will remain unequivocally true, that is that nobody would want to see their children live a less than fulfilling life. This ought to be our measuring stick for our dreams for other peoples' children as well.

 In amongst the real possibility to be cynical as to what tax incentives may or may not be behind the motivation for the Angelina Jolie's of this world to fund life skill schools in Kenya and other such locations, I am nonetheless inspired by the fact that such a person does not actually have to go out of her way to give hope to others and yet such an institution until recently did just that. We have a task to give people hope and to me that ought to be the bottom line not just for Education, rather it ought to be so for every other portfolio of policy. A country is not a business and if we're not working to give out hope what purpose then do our future policy directions serve? 

I am one of those people who is very thankful and grateful for a considerable number of people I've met through life's journey, who've been profoundly instrumental in the opportunities that have come my way. It is unfathomable to me that even in a climate of tight economic circumstances, that as a society we will tie ourselves to a process and method as a consequence of policy decisions that severely limits what we can do and for whom.

If there is one thing I have learnt about myself within the last four months, it is that I still have a driving passion to help as many people as I realistically can to find themselves a future and some hope. Fortunately that dream is still alive and well in me, how it plays out in the future is yet to be seen.